Colossus
by mushy guillotine
Summary: He was thrown to the wolves. Now he would return leading them. Or at the least slewing his version of vengeance on them. Whichever comes first and seems more important at the end.
1. Prologue

**Kolossus**

 **Prologue**

 **Consequences**

 **AN:**

Guys welcome back!

Its been a roller coaster of a ride this one year I have started writing on this site. My stories have been well recieved so far. Though I would like it to be more popular.

That's what you get when you ignore your best fans I guess. So guys, yes I am sorry. Amongst, the new and fearful things I have to do nowadays I just forgot that I have a story to complete.

Let me tell you a frank admission. Middle management job sucks. Yes you get paid top bucks. But in return you have to pawn off your time, free time, waking time, sleep time, social life even your soul sometimes. Thank Order, that I haven't yet to do the last.

I have started writing again. And this is my first venture. 'Why a new one?' you may ask. Coz I need more time to plot out the new direction, that Dawn has to take.

So don't worry

I am still here. I have not forsaken you all!

 **Chapter start**

The large man screamed out in pain in the Utah desert, far away from home and helpless without his companions. Most probably dead and by his current assaulter as well. His leather black jacket was already torn at the back where his assaulter had pulled him. His right knee as well as his left knee were broken at the caps. A solid kick to each semi-circular domes and suddenly he was as crippled as the divine being hated by his father with all his heart.

His gun had also busted out on him. The blonde man had just put his finger inside the barrel of his Glock. He could only watch in terror as his last defense bled up right back at his face.

All for what? To be or to not be. A silly Shakespearean question, but one nevertheless life threatening.

To be alive or not be.

A very silly question.

"And how does this thing work?" the blonde man asked the downed biker. The blonde then stomped on the biker's hand, crushing one or two fingers in the process. "I saw you stomp on that stirrup this way."

 _Just who and from where had this idiot come from?_ Even the third world countries had bikes. More so than in the developed world, where money took people to the four wheeled ones more frequently. Honestly describing his bobber as a horse was just an another level of crazy. And he had met some crazy ones in his lifetime. In his youth when he was fitter and used his strength for more constructive purposes.

Like fighting greater monsters than himself, that plague mankind. The downed biker's crowning achievement was killing the Minotaur a couple of decades ago.

The biker was ashamed to admit he cried out aloud, when he was being kissed without consent by sleeping Gaea. He had always been the strong one in the neighbourhood. A huge frame, both vertically and horizontally ensured that he was the bug bully. Now he knew how his various victims felt like. His assaulter was not large, just tall. Standing at a envious 6'3"(Still shorter than him) , the blonde was blessed with beefy arms and robust legs. The inverted arrow shaped torso was undoubtedly sculpted with days out in the outdoor sun.

 _But how could this blonde be so stupid as to not know how to ride a motorbike? Was he blondest of all blondes?_

Out of desperation, he gave away pearls of wisdom.

"You first press the clutch and switch the gear to neutral. Then press the self-start button. Then slowly leave the clutch while accelerating and good to go."

After he said that, the blonde eased his foot. When he was just relieved to be free of the torture, he was again shocked when the blonde man just lifted him like he was nothing. With a firm grip on his throat, the blonde maniac again asked,

"Do you have a family?"

"No bastard. Me and my biker dudes are the only family I have left. But you killed them." He screamed or yelled whatever you wanted to believe. For it was true. A demigod's life as an adult is hard. You pawn your life away doing your father's chores, then his girlfriend's, his mother's, his father's. Throw in a favor for his rival and brothers. At the end of the day, all that is left with you is your own breath.

Only then, when the reality of bills to pay, food to be put onto the table instead of materialised onto it, a life to be lived, do you understand that maybe you have wasted your life.

Everyone made fun of the half timers at camp, the ones who couldn't be bothered to do a single quest. Most were children of Hermes, Apollo and Aphrodite. While the children of Ares and Athens competed amongst themselves to be the top dog.

Yes top dog to the Master of Olympus.

How foolish were he and his ilk!

If only he had followed the example of the children of the useless trio. Now he could have had a family, a home, a job and mist of all peace of mind that there would be food in his table whenever he wanted.

He could have been old nerdy Bill! Or that back-talking shit Elon! He could also have been like that wimpy Brad back then. Not that you would suspect it now. Money and fame changes people.

But so does desperation and poverty.

Thankfully, he had worried enough to learn how to out put some food in the table. And that's why exactly only he was alive. Of his ilk. The brave campers of Ares cabin.

The blonde had killed all his divine half-brothes, demigods with a record at that too with just a strange looking knife. It was like Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator movie.

The dude just brushed off bullet wounds like it was nothing. Even now he could see the bullet wound on the blonde's shoulder knitting itself together. In an afterthought, he realized that this guy would be a favourite of his father. Ares might even give away a daughter in marriage to the guy.

As archaic as it may sound. It could be turned into the truth. His Father was crazy about strength like that.

"So no one would miss you?"

He just shut up. Knowing where this was going. To certain death.

"Shy ain't you?"The blonde chuckled." What's your name fatty?"

"As if you don't know it! We have been talking in Classical Greek for the past half an hour. I have never seen you at Camp. How come are you even alive?" wheezed out the biker. Seeing that he wasn't understood, he continued, "You are a demigod just like me. So you must know me. I am Richard Mercer. Son of Ares. The golden demigod of the 80s."

The blonde frowned but inside he was leaping with joy. At last some information about this world. This would be his first clue to understanding this quagmire he had gotten himself into. He just knew it.

"What proof do you have? All i saw before me is a washed up drunk, acting tough." He egged the pathetic drunk on.

"I have my passport, Visa card and driver license inside my wallet in my denim back pocket."

Naruto smiled. Finally he got an identity to hide behind. A man at his deathbed reveals his true colors. So he knew who exactly was this Richard Driver. But that wasn't necessary.

True colors are rarely seen. Even by the person it belonged to.

"Even then, I don't know you or your Ares." The weary traveller snapped the biker's neck and watched as he spasmed to death. Then he fished into the biker's back pocket and sure enough the star-crossed traveller got what he wanted.

A new identity.

A new identity.

Even a new vehicle thrown in. It was such a sweet deal. Even though he still hadn't ridden anything close to it before. It remotely resembled a horse. Maybe the humans here were weak so they turned to other methods to enhance their power.

Naruto sat on the thing which to him looked like a mechanical horse. As the poor dead guy said, he pressed the stirrup to what he assumed was a neutral position. Drew back the left ear back and pressed the red button. He felt the heart of the machine rev into life.

"So this is the key to your heart." He loudly declared. It surely looked like it. Even now he could hear vibrations from the heart. As if beating the horse into life from a forced coma.

Naruto turned the right handle back as he saw the other guy do. The mechanical horse whined as of belted by a whip. He grinned.

But still the horse wasn't moving ahead.

How could that be?

His horse was running... Scratch that galloping. He was even belting with the metaphorical whip.

Which only meant that horse wasn't running on ground. The horse was running but not just on the ground. In other words, there should be something to connect the legs to the ground. Or something is keeping the legs off the ground.

Maybe the left ear was like a hold on the legs of the horse. Preventing it from moving. Or maybe it was the right one. He finally fell back to an important lesson Jiraiya had thought long back.

When in doubt turn left, so that your right is exposed and not your left.

He released the left ear slowly. And the horse turned into the beast that it was meant to be.

The Indian Scout Bobber rolled out on its own accord. And Richard Mercer couldn't help but brace himself. The sky turned overcast. Lightning storms picked up wind and thunder boomed.

A son of god was killed.

And another was born. Balance was maintained. Order restored.

Now he had to find out what the fuck was going on.

*****Colossus*****

Artemis and Apollo walked into the pub. An old joint called the Three Boars. So called for the three XXXL size proprietors.

"Now why did you bring me here?" Artemis asked her brother with a glare.

"Oh please! You are a Goddess. You could have escaped whenever you wanted." and what a burn Apollo had made on his sister's whine.

"You are the stronger one. I know you would just hold me back."

"You know you need to relax. Don't you know all work and no play made Jack a dull boy?"

"Boy. Not a girl." Artemis gleefully supplied.

"Semantics." Apolls lamely pointed out.

"Your argument fails." Artemis said with a grin. And just to add salt to the wound. "Catastrophically."

It was a ritual among the twins for now almost a century. On the equinoxes both of them, alternatively get to take their twin to a place of their choice. Twins may fight amongst themselves like they were still teens. Prank each other to death. But at the end of the day, they knew that only they had each other's back. They couldn't even trust their own parents.

Leto was in a deep slumber. Never awoken from or looking like she would. Zeus was suspicious of every living thing. Let alone two breathing immortals who could combined challenge him, blow for blow.

"You know..." He began, "I was just thinking. I got my powers from grandpops Coeus, while you from grandma... What did we get from pops?"

"Lust" His sister pointed to him and then pointing to herself, she quipped, "and stubbornness." Bu she could really do savor the victory, Apollo dropped the bomb he had planning to drop from dawn.

"Arty why don't you try the dance floor?" Apollo suddenly asked. Knowing all too well she was positively sidewinded by his sudden question to say no.

 _Centuries had gone by and he was still not an Uncle to his sisters children!_

The things he had missed out on... He grew jealous day by day as he watched brothers spoil their sister's children rotten. An imaginary and totally fake tear rolled out of his left eye.

All because his father was a softy when it came to his daughters. He had to settle for the rare kids of Hermes who had some spark of the arts in them. Like Houdini. Now that kid was a goldmine.

But he refused to accept defeat. He was stubborn in his own way, for Order's sake. So before she could say no. He pulled a random guy, smiling at him and said,

"Dude my baby sister is in her first dance bar. Treat her good." He winked and took a step back. Apollo was the God of arts, poetry, hunting, prophecies, health, healing and medicine as well as the Sun. He was the guy who taught the guy who taught all the heroes worth their salt. He was a master of all and Jack of none. He was pure awesome.

And of stylish entrances!

So he was privy to many things. Like for example, Artemis liked a good surprise. She liked a guy who was confident but not cocky. She was a softie at heart, though she could come across as a cold bitch. She had high morals and a sense of justice.

That's why she refuses till date, to shack up with a male for a night. Many a times, he had heard her say how most of her hunters were demigods. Daughters of mortals who were spurned by their immortal lovers was left unsaid by her. Considering she could implicate her brother with that as well.

His extended family were not that particular about treating their lovers right. And cue broken families, broken men/women thrust with the responsibility of a kid who constantly reminded them of their loss. No wonder most demigods would love to leave their home.

He was better than most of his peers. At the least he believed so. Yes he had a roving eye. He loved each of his kids in his own special way. Never had a kid of his complained of neglect. Either from him or the mother.

But despite such a good example in him, She didn't want to produce a demigod. A child with neither a true place in the divine nor the mortal plane. _He begrudgingly accepted her decision._

But that us not to say he wouldn't or won't try at all. On the contrary this was a challenge that he won't stop pursuing until he faded.

"Miss, is your brother nuts?" The man into whom she was shoved to by her brother enquired.

"I am afraid not."Artemis said, shocked to the core once she saw his face. She didn't say it in the heat of the moment either. She was again brutally reminded that her brother was not nuts. No matter how goofy he acted most of the time. In fact he was even shrewder, more cunning than Athena and Hermes combined. If not, how could he select a dance pub and then select a guy for her who looked a tad bit too much to be comfortable like Orion. "You can call me Arte." and then she asked of him. Polite and proper. Just how a maiden should be.

"I forgot to ask you your name."

"Richard Mercer." The Orion lookalike smiled a little sheepish. "I am not that much of a good dancer. I just came here because Big Boss said so."

Artemis was now steadily getting a migraine. This had her idiotic brothers fingerprints all over it. Just to be sure she asked, "Paul Lyre?"

"Yeah. Your brother over there." Richard pointed to her brother who was giggling with a few women right beside the bar counter.

"What job did he offer now?" It was usual of Apollo to hook up one of his children with the upcoming movie stars. So which movie did he offer this meat for brains?

"I am a stuntman. Boss says he finds me the right fit to play John Blackthorne in his movie. It's based on that book by James Clavell 'Shogun'." the blonde guy supplied his side of the story to Artemis. "If he wants me to take his sister out for the role so be it. Better than what I have been hearing nowadays about what people do for a role."

The Goddess of the Hunt agreed to that strange logic. The Weinstein scandal had seriously given a lot of flak to Apollo.

"No worries. I am not a good dancer myself." Artemis fished for more information. There was more going on here than Apollo trying to hook her up.

"Then drinks?"

"I don't drink."

"So what's your poison?"

"I..." Artemis was in a fix. She couldn't really say hunting to a mortal now could she? "Like adventure sports." She quickly covered it up.

"Cool. Do you like hunting? I was gonna hunt me some bears tomorrow."

Artemis was shocked. She looked yonder over to her brother who was smiling his trademark Apolls grin. She will skin him alive if that was the last thing she did.

"OK. Where to find you?" The annoying guy had returned with a pestering question. Artemis paused to give a well thought answer. But before she could the blonde wonder blurted,

"Believe me babe. This nose can find anything anywhere. I can even smell some venison on you. How did you think I asked you for hunting?"

Artemis grew concerned when he said that. It was not normal. Not acceptable in a mortal. Or a demigod. This was a nature spirit. Or unfortunately a monster. Which would explain the smell of a canine that was constantly coming from him. This was certainly a monster. It might just be another of Apollo's cruel pranks. To remind her, that the only men willing to be with her was a monster.

Her brother was cruel when he wanted to teach a lesson to someone.

Her temper passed down without fail from her father, acted up. She discreetly drew her hunting knife and without hesitation thrusted into his heart. Or so she thought.

"Now that's not nice. My last assassin at the least went on a date with me." Richard overpowered the Goddess' hand and dropped the knife to the ground. Artemis still wasn't making a move. Shocked as she was by the outcome.

She snarled once sense came back into her, at times a little too protected from the outside brain. That is to say she was thick skulled. How else could she miss the horrifying fact?

That a mortal had overpowered her. A man overpowered her.

A stupid mortal man overpowered her. Just when she got free he was gonna be turned into a jackalope by her. Apollo wouldn't let her live it down otherwise.

Her hands got free for a second from the hold he had on her. That was all she wanted as she snapped her fingers. That was the cue for him to turn into a jackalope. She had engineered her spell that way. With just a snap of her fingers any one who offended her would turn into a jackalope for a minimum of two hours.

But nothing happened.

"I don't like people trying to attack me." Richard said with the eyes of a seasoned soldier. With nary a sense that she had weaved a spell on him. His pleasant demeanour was now gone. All left now was an aura of a warrior. Perhaps this was a demigod. Or worse this was a Afghanistan veteran. "Especially when my guard is down."

Then he unleashed a flurry of attacks. Spinning his right leg in a semi-circle he sweeped Artemis to the floor. The Goddess immediately sprang on to the floor using her legs as a lever. In the return motion she managed to catch hold of the leg which was gonna descend on her prone form.

"And I thought you were chivalrous." The Goddess of the Hunt snarked while holding his right leg. She was relieved to see it was really blood pouring from, the wounds of the man. From where she had stabbed him. This was not a monster. If she inadvertently harmed him grievously, Apollo c ch old always heal him.

"And I thought you were a friend." The wannabe movie star snarled. And out of nowhere, he produced two strange knives. Looking oriental in design, there wasn't anything fancy about the blade. It was plain death. At the least to a mortal when wielded by him. That much was clear.

Artemis weaved the mist so that the mortals thought there was a fire in the bar. She then took out her hunting knives and held them in a defensive posture. Good thinking as he had already gone on the offensive.

His left came for her belly, a sure way to die if the knife was turned after penetration. She managed to block it but completely missed the kick that can e from his left leg. A full roundhouse kick. The Goddess was in awe of the physical conditioning of this man. And the guy didn't stop either. His dervish twirl in the air ended with a stab from his right hand.

Right into her exposed shoulder. Gilded ichor seeped out from the wound. Richard's eyes bulged our at the strange sight.

"Monster." He whispered but she could hear it all clearly. The guy hen dropped a smoke bomb into the ground and disappeared.

Artemis could only frown as the smoke dissipated and all she could see was an empty bar. Discounting her idiotic brother peacefully emptying the drinks counter at one end that is.

And as anti-climatic as it could be, her date with the mystery stuntman had ended. Leaver her curiosity unsated and kicking alive.

*** Colossus ***

"Apollo spill! What's going on here?" asked a rather tense Artemis to her brother.

"I should ask you that rather. Are you finally gonna maker me an uncle?" Apollo quipped. He smirked when he saw her enraged at the very question. "In hindsight, there is a lot going in with your boytoy."

Apollo sighed. Now that he had gotten her involved. He had to reveal it to her. He was planning on them getting along without incident. But this was his sister! She never did anything the normal way. They would grow close and he could continue to observe the anomaly. That's what he decided and had happened.

Artemis may not be the stereotypical woman or Goddess looking after her next prey. A mate in the most primitive form of the word. But Artemis was a woman alright.

And Artemis was now curious.

And like any other woman who became curious. She would have an intense urge to get down to the problem. Litherland to understand it or fix it.

"He's an anomaly. What did he say now his name was? Richard Mercer right?" Apollo started his hypothesis. "Richard Mercer was a hero of the 80s. Pride of Ares."

Artemis frowned. "Ares? Not Mars. He gave off that vibe."

"No. It's Ares. But he doesn't smell of a demigod. He smells like a monster fresh off from Tartarus."

The Goddess of the Hunt had her eyes wide with surprise. Finally, she could point out why she had a itching feel of danger when he was near. He was a shape-shifting monster.

The question was now which one.

"So that's a Lamia? I thought Lamia were only female?"

"Its something more. Have you wondered whether monsters attack us because they are Monsters or because we are gods?"

Artemis liked her brother when he was like this instead of when he was spouting Haikus. Philosophy was one intellectual skill that Apollo was the undisputed leader of and not Athena. Maybe it was because she was a shy spoiled nerd of a daddy's girl. She had never gone out of her way to help anyone.

"Are you saying that this guy doesn't know that we are Gods? Or that he is a monster meant to be killed by us?"

"Both." Apollo impishly left the rest unsaid. Infuriating little bastard. "So dear lil' sister tail him. And give me your findings within this week. I have some hunches about him that I want to be sure of are not just hunches."

Apollo left his sister abruptly never saying what were his suspicions. The blonde did look an awful lot like Orion. That's what caught his attention when he first saw the former stuntman at one of his films shoot. Orion was the only guy who showed promise of giving him nephews and nieces to spoil.

Moreover, the other blonde had endured many a horrific injuries. There had to be chest scar on him that never truly healed. His attacks on his sister were of a swift backhanded manner as if unconsciously making sure the chest muscles weren't much flexed. There was another explanation for that but came much later. A dislocated shoulder still gave Richard a slight asymmetry. His hip had been crushed under a colossal weight once upon a time, but it had healed later. Not to mention the absolute lack of trust that the young man displayed. It was only seen in spies who had intruded into enemy territory or had gone double agent. There were also signs of PTSD.

In short, Richard Mercer if it was even his name had tickled his medical curiosity.

It was all Apollo had observed and gathered from the little fight that Richard had with his sister and from before. If Richard's bones itself were so affected and he had come out of it alive...

Richard had to be at the least a legacy of Apollo. His own blood.

Or there was another possibility. A possibility that Apollo looked forward to and hoped for.

 _Richard Mercer was the incarnation of the Faded Helios_.

Now that was a guy who understood all too well. Almost like a real brother. Apollo already had too much on his platter that the loss of the role of the Sun wouldn't something he would be worried about.

"What use is being a prophecy God when you can't see the Future in plain colors?" Apollo lamented to the Fates.

***Colossus***

And cut!

That's it, my latest attempt at a story.

How did you all like it?

And before you ask I don't ride the Indian Scout Bobber. It comes via the CBU route to India. So I literally have to shell out double the money that it will sell for in the States. I ride the Kawasaki Ninja though. The awesome green motorcycle that takes the curve like a stripper does the pole. It's one of the better bikes out there. If you are a motorcycle enthusiast like me, I recommend it.

But I still am not satisfied.

I will buy an Indian scout bobber in the future. Just soon as I get that promotion!

Forget all that, the next chapter is rolling out soon. So keep your fingers crossed.

As usual, leave your reviews and fuel my writing mind.

Talk soon,

Yours Mushy


	2. I

Colossus

Chapter One

By mushy guillotine

 **Chapter start:**

A staccato noise permeated the room of the penthouse - a drumming of the fingernails of a man who had just earned hinself a good fortune through honest means. The jovial mood inside the room was contrasted starkly by the din outside. Of the helpless cold of December. People trying to forget a winter season's frigid coldness inside the warmth of the supermarkets' embrace of wanton spending.

Christmas was nigh upon the world and with it as usual the shopping season. While the world was running helter-skelter for things that they hardly needed, the man inside the room was just drumming away. Life was being good to him lately.

It was such a good day for Tony. His wife had been so sick that she hadn't even gotten up in the morning. So she couldn't really find out the hotel bills that he had forgotten to hide from his pant pockets. Moreover, the roads were uncharacteristically empty. Maybe that was also because he had left early from home. And also he had got paid handsomely.

He had just finished investigating the cheating wife of the Senator. When, where and with whom had been duly submitted to the Senator. With an icy glare at the photographs of his wife with a blonde man, he had ushered him out.

The impoliteness of the Senator was understood by Tony. He would have done the ssme if his wife had cheated him with a two-bit good for nothing assembly line worker. But forgiveness was still hard to come by. At the end of the day, he was a Child of the Wisdom Goddess. Which meant he was a Child of Ego Goddess as well. But considering the circumstances, the indecency was to be forgiven. In time.

But the fees he had gained later, made the forgiveness of the indecency even more resolute.

Feeling a lil bit Gleeful at his 'good joss'. He had been in the Vietnam war where the natives had a good word for everything. It was 'Joss'.

Joss was luck, omen, wrath, God and the devil all rolled into one. Today it was 'joss' that he wasn't feeling his true age of fifty seven and was instead brought back into his tender years of twenty, when war had come calling. That too just when he saw who was on the other side of the door. As War had come knocking on his door again.

Tony Stuart, son of Athena sighed as he saw who was his next visitor. Ares. Bad joss.

Goddamn insane Ares. Complete with fiery eyes and his torn leather jacket. Really bad joss.

Putting on a fake plastered smile he wished the war God a good morning. Which literally had no effect on the fiery war God. If only Tony seemed to think, Ares' eyes were flaming even more brightly. Now the god called Ares' was a special case in behaviour. Content to be ridiculed for being relatively dumber than his relatives, Ares was dangerous at only one circumstance. When Ares wanted someone dead. And when Ares wanted someone dead...

"I want this avenged." Ares dropped the photo on his table without preamble or greeting. Typical of the brute. Walking right into his office and expecting favor without a blessing or a gift in return. Nevertheless he had to do it, so that his mother could have one up over her rival. His mother would just pay him back at a later stage.

Tony looked into the photo on his table. It was old Richie. Old nasty Rich. Richard Mercer. Slayer of Minotaurs and Harpies. Scourge of Prometheus the last time he tried to escape. Richie still had that nasty scar on the nose that he had given him on that mission to the Rockies. Tony had bragged that anything a child of Apollo can do, he could do better and carried only a bow and a rifle that mission. His terrible aim had ended up with a scarred nose for the poor bastard of Ares.

'Sorry Rich. I should have listened to you. And now you are dead.' Tony inwardly sighed. He was getting old. He was loosing old friends faster than he was making new ones. In fact he wasn't making any new ones.

So this case would be quite important for him. Rich and him went way back. Back into the time when people had thought that offsprings of Ares and Athena don't gel well. They had proved everyone wrong.

But now.

It had been thirty something years or so that they had even communicated. They hadn't even witnessed the change they had brought about. Not that they had to. They knew the repercussions of their actions.

Now contrary to earlier belief, the children of Ares and Athena got on well. They were just two sides of the same coin after all.

Children of Athena had better strategy but the execution was always better on the Ares' side. The roles of advisor and strategist were as interchangeable as the general and commander. So the dynamics between them changed but the result was always when offsprings of Ares and Athena teamed up.

Total annihilation of the enemy.

And so it wasn't unreasonable when Tony uttered the next words, "I need some help from your end. I know you won't pay for this."

"You ask your divine to pay in mortal means." Ares grunted.

"I have to. Or maybe the world will again start to be governed from the Empire State Building?" Tony wondered. Seriously it would solve a lot of his problems.

"Father says Man should be interfered as less as possible." One of the few good decisions made by Zeus in Tony's opinion even though it seriously affected him adversely. "Nevertheless I accept. I accept that you have taken it in all seriousness."

"Understood, Sir." After graduating from the camp, he like many of his ilk had joined the army. He had rosen up to a full Colonel and retired. As he wanted to dabble in the world of private eyes. Now he was one of the best in the business.

Ares smirked when he saw the prompt obedience of Athena's kid. For all of her bluster against him, she and her children were quite naive when it came to posturing tactics on the field. She and her children may make strategies that continue to boggle his mind. But there was no one better than him and his children when it came to field leadership. Other than perhaps his father.

On hindsight, Ares scratched out even his father Zeus. His Father wasn't known for his battlefield prowess. His victory against the Titans came through trickery and not through battle fought with blood.

"Remember I am Ares. God of all War. I was born to give orders. Is that understood?" Ares imperatively remarked with quite a bit of smug authority in his words. He had outsmarted the smart again. Bah! Wisdom! Just hot air on a ear of corn. Give him guts and determination any day and he could defeat a hundred of these so called wise men without breaking a sweat.

"Yes sir." The paunch-bellied detective blurted out without thinking. The battle frenzy had affected him. Tony cursed himself for being allowed to be bullied by this brute. His mother would give him a sound scolding soon.

Ares nodded to him like a superior would to his junior officer and pointed out of the balcony of Tony's condominium. Gesturing something, a few split seconds later Tony realized he meant for him to follow to the balustrade of his balcony.

Pointing to a girl sitting below, on the God's Doom machine, an Indian Scout bobber. In fact, now that Tony thought about it, Ares and his children did like their cruiser motorbikes. Apollo's and Hermes' kids being the speed freaks that they are preferred the crotch rocket variety. He himself included. More efficient and effective.

After all that was what being a progeny of Athena was meant to be.

Efficient and Effective.

Ares snapped his fingers to catch the attention of the daydreaming brain-child. A common problem he had become quite accustomed to handling.

"My daughter Clarisse will help you. She is waiting downstairs." Ares said and vanished into thin air. He had better things to do. And anyways, the task was in capable hands.

Tony sighed. Expect him to just do something like that.

He tucked in his shirt a little, which had puffed up at the waist after he sat down. He had put in some weight recently. Scratch that. A lot of weight. Steady eating and steady sitting on a desk does tend to do that to you. He should really exercise more as his wife told him everyday. Also, Ares kids size you up very quickly. It was as similar to a hound dog dealing with a wolf pack. Show weakness and you will be gobbled up.

Tony slyly put on his progressive glasses without which he could hardly see. The world again made sense to him. He looked over the balcony that his office enjoyed and below it to see what had his divine relative thought of gifting him.

And he was thoroughly let down.

From a full Colonel who led grown deadly trained men into battles to this. Babysitter of the War God latest failure case.

Clarisse La Rue was not even eighteen.

No license to drink after the case starts to hit a dead end. No license to drive to clear out some last minute snags or escape from a nasty turn. No license to have a gun either, though that could always be worked out in California. That was not the most infuriating part but. No license to have sex after all the hard work was done by him.

He was duped.

He should have just acted as if he was asleep when Ares was here. He needed a drink.

And inevitably, Tony Stuart cursed his rotten joss.

"So what have you found till now?"

"He's not a monster. Plain and simple." The woman to whom the question was posed, replied with a scoff that she had practically patented. "He's something else. Do you know of anyone who can control the wind like it was second nature and be faster than lightning?"

Apollo squinted his eyes in confusion as the description fitted their father very aptly. And as much as he knew it, Zeus had put a firm chokehold on his divine phallus. Power was the one thing his father liked more than physical pleasures. That was why he had only twice cheated in his marriage after the Great prophecy.

Twice, because he was weak willed on top of being power hungry.

It was a miracle that Poseidon or Hades hadn't already usurped their father's throne. But that was also mainly due to the fact that Zeus was an adept practitioner of the divide and rule policy. Ares against Athena. Athena vs Poseidon. Hades against Demeter. Demeter against Hera. Hera against Aphrodite. Aphrodite against Artemis. Artemis and prior to that, Pan against Hephaestus. And finally, Hephaestus against Ares.

Thus the cycle was complete.

All the poor fools at the end had to resort to Zeus for their petty disputes. And that's how Father kept his power. All the reason, he himself was under intense scrutiny by Athena and Ares, even Helios earlier fron time to time. Also the reason, Apollo acted like a teenager on a sugar rush most of the time. No suspicion on him as he was thought to be without ambition or real power.

Lost in his ruminations as he was, Apollo failed to see the irritation on his less patient sister. A strong nudge to his shins and he yelped back to attention on his dear sister.

"What the hell are you thinking?"

"None of your bizness, Lil' sis!" Apollo drawled out in his sunny and upbeat mood. When actually he wasn't.

This was the whole reason why he was left alone by his father. Duplicity. Also he was a prophecy God who could literally see it coming. Alas Daddy dearest had forgotten the most alarming prophecy.

Zeus had forgotten the prophecy that he would share the fate of his father and grandfather before him.

Then all of a sudden, a theory burst into the Apollo's intelligent mind. It was not a pretty theory. Rather it was a scary theory. Something that threatened the very existence of Olympus more than the impending awakening of Kronos. Now that Zeus had broken his oath on the Styx and there was not anything stopping something worse than death ascending on the one's who had broken the oath.

As Artemis increasingly saw the ascending worried expressions on her brother's visage, she grew worried. Apollo wasn't one to panic. Nor was he one to slide away things as unnecessary. Just plain impartial.

"Apollo if you need my help, you just have to say so? We had long ago decided that there shall be no favor system between us like the others of our kin?" Artemisia begged her brother to reveal what was troubling him. "Please, little brother you promised. You promised not to hide anything. However hard it may be."

"I have a theory to prove." He finally let something be expectorated from his mouth. It was hardly brought to his notice that his words were a little on the benign side. For these were also the words he used when he wanted to found out if blonde were more promiscuous than brunettes or why society had become acceptable of old protagonists in his stories.

Apollo really had a theory to prove.

But to prove it he would need help. Of a female even more annoying than his annoying little sister. Someone who adored his Father more than life. Someone who believed she was smarter than the average girl which is saying much.

His half sister from Metis.

Athena. Goddess of wisdom.

Who still thought she was the most smartest being in the Universe.

Apollo cried wolf on that, for if she was so then she would have understood the tangled webs that Zeus had weaved in their families to control them.

"Sister." Apollo beckoned his one and only annoying sister. "Can I count on you to do something for me?"

"No." Artemis said looking totally serious. Seeing the astounded look on her brother's visage, she gave a fist of victory mentally. She had finally one over her brother. "Come on doofus! You can count on your sister."

"This is serious, Artemis!" Apollo screamed in rage. And Artemis was suddenly reminded of the mastiff that she used for hunting. Gentle when stroked and ferocious when provoked was the motto of both the dog and her horndog of a brother. Both are large and powerful, but shy to show it off. Brave but the bravery tempered by a monk's temperament. Just like a mastiff who will be kind to the mischief of its master's offspring but vicious to the robber in the master's house.

"OK. I am listening." She ceded to her brother.

"I think we will need our sister Athena's help here. I am not yet informing Ares as he's like a bull in a China shop. He will destroy everything." Artemis looked at her dumbfounded. She thought Apollo stood for justice. He was the deface God of Justice. That Zeus was God if Justice was bull and a big misunderstanding. She thought he would need the Lamia killed for impersonating and killing a demigod.

Apollo noticed the disbelief on his sister's face, he eventually reluctantly explained himself, "I need that Richard Mercer to answer some questions of mine. I don't want him killed yet."

"What questions do you want him to answer?" Artemisia fished for answers.

"Just one." Apollo's supplied further with a audible gulp, "Where did Metis hide him till now?"

Artemis gasped as suddenly everything fell into place.

Of what the impending catastrophe that had her brother of far-sight worried.

Another cycle of patricide.

Uranus was killed by the youngest offspring of his first wife. Kronos.

Kronos was in turn killed by the youngest offspring of his first wife. Zeus.

Now it was Zeus's turn to be killed by the youngest offspring of his first wife, Metis. Whoever that son of a bitch was.

"He tried to ingratiate himself with the daughter of a Athena. I think he was trying to get the Aegis to contact Athena discreetly."

The said son of a bitch was a few moments prior, lounging at the Blue Nile Continental bar. After he had been found out by those gods, he had been very careful.

Richard's diary first few entries only had the mention of monsters as the supernatural creatures abound in these vast lands. Grotesque mindless beasts with a maddening lust for man and no reason to support it. A paradox in his opinion. Dangerous you were deemed only if you had the brains to hold your balls in check. For what was bravery without temper?

Just the feralness of a rabid dog.

So the beasts had an ulterior motive. Something which Richard and his ilk, the so called God's hadn't been able to find out. Yes Gods. How strange was this world?

Defenseless and greedy civilians protected and ruled by defenseless and greedy civilians, who were in turn secretly ruled by irresponsible and all powerful beings called Gods. Call a experiment bound to fail.

Now that he was more knowledgeable with this world he knew that the woman who had tried to attack him, all that time ago was someone of a divine origin. The golden fluid that he thought was demon blood was actually ichor. Her hair was red, smelled of the forest and could in turn sense that he had some links with a monster. She was either a nymph or Kami forbid Artemis.

'Bollocks' Naruto thought at last. He was hyperventilating. His well known streak of extreme bad luck didn't seem to have followed him here. He just lived. A normal incident free life up until he had met that blasted redhead woman.

He liked the life of comparative quietness and curiosity filled with an ever growing knowledge that he was now used to. What helped was his fresh take on things. What mattered was whether at the end of the day there was food on his table. It didn't matter who he stole or killed for that to appear on his table. For what was man if he couldn't provide for his own?

Just a mindless beast with a lust for violence. Right?

He kept it real.

It was him against the world.

That was until he had got the brilliant idea that the way back must be with these godforsaken, incestuous Olympians. And so he began finding a trace of their work. Demigods.

Long at last he found a demigod, Lorraine Thauvin. A student of the Harvard business school.

"Na. I dinna agree with ya, Lorry. I canna be second best. Simply canna." Naruto's present alias was that of a Scottishman called Culum McCloud. Hence the profound shade of the Scottish Brogue into his language at the moment." Culum McCloud dinna ken how to be second best. Nor does he want to learn."

Lorry or as her real name Lorraine, wasn't in the slightest bit enthused by this over the top, loud man's claims that he was the best spy in the business. That he was a retired MI6 agent. God's blood he looked only a little more than twenty. And the Eurasian thief had the gall to claim that he was approaching his forties.

For what else could she describe the man that was sitting opposite her and also paying for her dinner. The Eurasian part was affirmed with his square Scottish jaw with the bushy jowls she had seen on many old Scottish gentlemen in television and his slightly angular eyes. Almost imperceptible to the naked eye, aye. But she was a daughter of Athena. Wisdom and cognition were her godfather and godmother.

He said he was a dear friend of Richard Mercer's. But there was not proof to confirm that.

"Me and him were as thick as nails twixt the ends. Aye, that man saved me hide from a couple of scary twists." Culum's exact words. Not that Lorry believed him. Coz his stories were full of holes. If his alibi was true then,

Why was Culum driving his Indian? Something Richard loved more than his own life. Or for that matter why wasn't Culum not acquainted with Richard's demigod friends? As far as she was concerned, Fat old Richie only had the cabins of Camp Half-blood as his friends during his entire life. And Lorraine was surprised to know otherwise.

So basically he was probably a thief who had pocketed Richard and was now trying to save himself when he knew he had stolen from a dead man. She dismissed the very idea of him being the murderer, for no matter how deluded the pyschyopath was they can't lie to a Daughter of wisdom.

"What if I say I don't particularly trust a Scot? You have been playing my native, France and England for centuries." Lorry said a totally bullshit reason to extend a firm disapproval of his request. She was not even patriotic. In fact she didn't even know to speak French "What if you are playing me like the lute?"

"I dinna ken how to explain it to yer wax-filled ears! You imbecile French lost against us, the British. Not English." The Scotsmen raged and she was sure that perhaps maybe he was the age he had proclaimed to be. For no reasonable teenager. One with his mind opened with the new Liberal thoughts would glorify an empire based on crony capitalism, exploitation and monopoly. "The empire was made with as much Scottish blood as much as English."

"So it was made with the blood of Indians, the Africans. Us. Thank god we broke free from your yoke." Lorraine said with a cruel smirk and not a hint of remorse to be kicking at old skeletons in the closet. She really hated that phase of world history.

Naruto knew she was baiting him into acting the age that he had told her. Fourty two years. Technically born into the world when the British Empire was still up and running. It was one of the few things he felt connected to in this world. Britain. It was so much like his own mother's Uzu.

Island Nation of considerable power. Wealth. And knowledge. A forerunner of times. But eventually outrun by the numerically superior mainlanders when they did manage to match their technological pace.

And so he had chosen to be Scottish. Because his ego still couldn't accept himself as a full Uzumaki. Just like he couldn't be full British. Not without learning the Hiraishin first.

But now he will have to watch himself or the small fracas he had created to lend more color and ingenuity into his charade may just topple over.

"Forget history. 'tis the now. I just want you as a junior partner to my firm. McCloud, Mercer and Thauvin." Naruto begged her. And Lorry thought that her doubts were horribly misplaced.

"We'll be into real estate and mining." The second was a faux reason but the first was valid. He needed to survey the lands to find out where he could find a portal back to his home."

"Mining would need rough hands." Lorry said looking into his eyes and arms. Big gorilla like arms covered with a ridiculous fuzz of golden hair. "Perhaps you have them but not me. I say supermarket or else I am not aboard."

"I don't care as long as you rake in the money." Naruto at the least tried to act concerned about money.

Money. What a pathetic thing. He was a warrior. Not a merchant. What was money of use to a warrior? It was good only in the hands of women and effeminate men. Not a good worthy descendant of Susanoo and a future Hokage like him. Naruto immediately made up his mind to do a ritual to clean himself of the harmful effects of money once he got back to his land. Away from this merchant-infested and run land.

"You will personally survey the lands while I arrange for the money. Meanwhile, I will be running an antique auction house." He was sure he could sell a few scrolls as an ancient manuscript of the Yamato Shoguns. A million for each. Three million for Jiraiya's 'ancient literary and graphical expression of eroticism.' He was sure he had a few Icha Icha lying around. Ten or upwards for Jiji's paintings. He could also charge fortunes for the weapons he carried on his person locked up securely in scrolls. All in all he could manage at the least twenty million as a starting fund for his firm. The firm would help him in surveying the land.

"I would need a solid proof that you are trustworthy. I can't just extend my help to anyone who was a friend of a friend." Culum extended a hand towards her chest , gesturing her to open it. But she would have nothing of it. "No! You listen, you impatient man! I would need a signed cheque..." She stopped when she saw what the offered hand contained. A single gold bar. Of approximately ten pounds.

He gingerly kept the bar on her palms and proceeded to take four more out of nowhere. Each was of the same size. Together the five was worth enough to pay the rest of her tuition.

"I haven't finished my degree, Culum. I don't know if I can justify that much amount. Or even that much of your trust. I will be as good as a fresh intern. You would get better employees along the way. You may want someone else as a partner."

Culum smiled, knowing that he had her in his palms. In the ninja world only solid bullion had value. Thief's and assassins by birth held little value in promises or bonds or paper. Knowing that they regularly broke the laws, promises and oaths and lied about not doing so in a fashion that was almost foreign to any other profession. May perhaps a deep undercover spy.

So he had a lot of bullion on his person locked up in seals just like his weapons. All his years worth of pay for the numerous C, B, A and S ranks that he had done on a regularly basis. Now was the time to use its power.

Money held no power in his land. Here it was the lifeblood of power.

"Then I will have t' change ya isn't it?" He said at last as a challenge to her. Knowing full well that she would take it as a personal challenge to not let anyone be better than her. Good on the first level. But if she started degrading the quality of the other employees by some means, he was always there to watch over her.

"Then I have to make sure that you don't, ain't I?" Lorraine challenged him back with a grin.

Challenge accepted.

And just like that Naruto was morose. As he looked over the glass window of the cafe. The steam from the myriad number of coffee steaming here everyday had long since caked the glass with a tint of brown vapour. Along with the dust outside the glass had acquired quite a taste of calling itself a painted glass from medieval Florence, when actually it was just a cheap work-glass made in the dirty factories of Utah.

He too was like that. Using this false veneer of amiability to hide his true jaws. He had always listened to his heart when making decisions. Logic was decisive yes, but ignoring the heart had been the downfall of many a shinobi. Particularly because, it was arguably the one profession where your heart died the fastest.

But after reaching here he had stopped listening to its pleas and tantrums. Of promised pain and toil in this new land. Revenge to be taken and vanquished. But after a few days, his heart had stopped conversing with him.

It was right after Naruto had killed that defenseless man just because he was hungry and that monster he was riding looked cool. He, the guardian of the Elemental Nations had killed a defenseless man just because it had suited his needs.

This world was not good.

He should just return to his land as a fast as he could.

His heart had stopped beating long back. He had killed children for money. Women coz they alive would have meant his loss of cover. Especially bedded women. Some things people rarely forgot and those were of that category.

He was a monster who took pleasure in killing. And now his heart had started beating again. But with the manic glee of a devil who sees a pious man about to fall from grace. There was something wrong in this world.

This world hated him.

How was he settle down here? A dozen authorities were to be behind your back if someone was killed. Barbaric! This world was not good for him. He wanted to go back. Where killing was not sin but a way of life.

Aye, He was a monster that even the monsters themselves feared. So this world was not good for him.

But this world wanted him for his bigotry and uncleanness. Even though it hated him.

How else was he supposed to say that he had a hunch that he was never gonna leave this place? A hunch. But his hunches were always right. It was right when he suspected that Jiraiya won't return from Ame. It was right when he suspected Sakura was lying to him about Sasuke. It was right when he suspected that he didn't love Hinata though the poor girl was madly in love with him. It was right when he suspected Tsunade would wake up.

And it was also right when he suspected that Sasuke had to be killed by him and him alone.

Oh no, he won't just kill that sour-puss Uchiha. He would downright crush him. Unless the Uchiha himself begged him to erase his useless wretched existence from the face of the earth.

And he was right again.

This world hated him so much that it wanted to smother him and crush his ashes into untraceable ashes.

'Do your best America!" He shouted in his mind knowing that the very Earth was his nemesis. A hunch again. But he was sure about it. "I will be home. Nothing that exists or No one alive can stop me from doing that. I am Naruto Uzumaki. I tamed the very devil and bedded her. I would like to see the man or woman alive who can harm me for good."

The glass window cracked.

"A storm is coming, Culum. How did you possibly have a premonition about it?" Lorraine thought the reason why he had looked into the glass was because of the coking storm. He had the look of a seaman. And seamen were notorious in their ability to read the upcoming weather.

Naruto smirked back at Lorry. Her dark hair coaxing him to switch into his manufactured accent quite effortlessly "I baint, lassie. Perhaps the gods themselves want me to bunk at yer house." He waggled his eyebrows to show his clear intent.

Lorry laughed. Amused that he was trying to flirt with her and trying to challenge her plans for him. She was not alone.

The very Earth laughed back at his odiocity. She was amused at his very nerve to challenge her plans for him. She was the Earth. Mother of all.

Who was he?

If given a chance, Naruto would have really thought hard about that question.

Naruto really wondered who was he really.

No one answered him. For no one in this world really could. Nor could the ones back home.

Could they?

Or could they not?

***The End***

Oooh!

Suspense.

How did you guys like the suspense I am building up. Maybe some of you would complain that there is a break in the story between the last chatter and this. You are partially wrong there as Naruto here is under a alias. So was he in the last chapter.

About the strange English you might see Culum McCloud say when under character, all I have to say is I read it in a book. Tai-pan by James Clavell. It was being said by a Scotsman there and I adapted it. Cockney and Norfolk were also under consideration but I disregarded them. Norfolk is too unknown and Cockney too unpopular.

Now onwards in the subsequent chapters there would be three parts, one for Tony and his associates who would be looking for the murder of Richard Mercer. One for Apollo and Artemis looking for the son of Metis (apparently). And the last for Naruto's adventures in the world he was cast into after killing Kaguya. A long term plan if anything changes I'll let you guys know.

By the way, how did you all like it? Review away!

Merry Xmas

Mushy


	3. II

II

AN: I had someone complain about the way Naruto was behaving in my fic. A monster. My answer to them is why should he do anything otherwise.

He is a trained assassin. A trained soldier and even a very capable General if his promotion to the Hokage is anything to bank upon. So if you club all these he must be pretty easy with killing or doing anything to get what he wants.

Moreover a shinobi is not that concerned about morals. Whatever the means, the end justifies it is their motto I guess.

I am not gonna change from what I have thought for this story. If you can't handle the gore and pretty fucked up things that is to come, that is your and only yours problem. It's rated M for a reason.

And for those so called moderators on this site. Fuck you. You are not even thought of in my plans for this new year.

I am proud. Of what I am. Of what I have done. Of where I have reached. And of the future for me.

Chapter start :

"Where are you taking me, wise girl?" The deserts of Utah was an entirely different world from the concrete jungles of New York. Scores of free sand gave away to yet more unpossessed scores of sand. Unlike where perfectly manicured roads and their pedestrian walkways ambits prisons made of bricks. If not for the very visible lack of sea water, Percy would have fell in love with this place.

"This was the last place that our target had appeared. We have to scope him out for Athena." She replied, still upbeat about the first task that her mother had ever given her. She had even called her daughter!

"Find out who killed Richard Mercer and where is he, daughter. The killer has been spewing trouble lately." Her wise mother had said to her. Concern had clouded her features so much that Annabeth wasn't sure of it was meant for Ares' now dead son or her. Anyone who could kill Ares' offspring without causing general destruction or leaving any clues had to be say more than just a mere troublemaker.

"Worry not, daughter. If you ever find him all you need to do is call upon me." Athena tried to allay her daughter's fears. "I'll deal with him." She had said cryptically.

Annabeth was worried. If her mother was worried about this man it meant that he was worth being worried about.

"What else do we know about him?" Percy asked her.

"He can change faces. Athena said even after his death, there were people who reported seeing Richard alive."

And Percy was stumped. "How the hell do you suppose we will find him then?"

Annabeth smirked and couldn't help but point out, "With your luck I am sure he will find us rather than us him?"

***Colossus***

To be frank she liked this place.

So many prey to be hunted. So many monsters to be showed who was the Queen. With nary a challenger to her throne, she relished in each opportunity to stake her claim. That horrendous bull-man was but like a slightly heavy lunch for her. Those hounds mere a unappetising snack, not even worth smacking her fingers.

Further what she liked this place was her freedom. The seal that kept her confined wasn't of this dimension. It's rules not applicable in a different dimension. Moreover, the world of here didn't understand the difference between a Chakra construct and a real human fleshbag. Her organs were the best in the world, her tits simply the best and her body without comparison. All was possible here.

Here she was free from her husband. Not that she minded the estrangement. He was hers anyway. Forever and ever. One way or the other. The Shinigami and the Yondaime had made sure of it.

How would the Yondaime and his wife tremble when they realize the only dowry gift she bought home was their deaths?

There was a reason the Death reaper seal forbidden and obscured to even the vast knowledge of the Uzumakis. The death reaper seal binded a spirit to a human for eternity, an unbreakable bond. And what was more binding than marriage?

Ruminations for later, first she wanted to kill that three headed imbecile. The bastard had the guts to notice her glorious presence without kowtowing in return. In her world, she destroyed the whole villages for something even less.

Last she knew that imbecile had gone right through these catacombs. Picking up speed, she gave chase to her prey. The wind cut across her crimson hair, cascading down her shoulders. It was one vanity she allowed herself. And anyways, her husband did like long red hair. She kept it well maintained in a neat braid. That was the only reason he had even paid that pinker sank any attention when young.

The catacombs were getting increasingly damp. Staccato sounds of feet rapping onto wet paver bricks echoed in the dungeons. There were always sounds. But no life around. No plants of any sort. No animals, no crept crawlies like the centipede or the snake that liked such places. No reptiles. Not even was an insect chirping.

For the first time she realized how horribly trapped she was in an ambush. There was no wind blowing against her pale skin, not even a light breeze. Which basically she was deep underground with not a single of the routes in front of her leading to the ground. She was not even sure how underground she was to try and make a way to the ground by boring her way away.

Kurama unsheated her hair from its braid, her Chakra seeping into it. The very force of nature made form reflected in her tresses as it circled her head like a ophidian aura. The fearsome presence of her sure made her aggressor make itself known.

It was another woman.

"Stand your ground monster. I am not here to harm you." The woman hollered out to her, standing ramrod straight. As if she hadn't done wrong or as of she was absolutely harmless.

Kurama knew better but. She was from a world of deceit and backstabs. This woman was very dangerous. Very dangerous. Otherwise she wouldn't stand before her, the monster of monsters without feeling even a bit fearful.

"Say your name girly. You seem to know me but I don't." She snarked. People these days. Absolutely no courtesy to foreign travellers.

"I am Hera. Goddess of women and marriage and fertility." She said with a sneer that screamed a spoilt upbringing. She said she was some kind of a marriage goddess, so maybe that was true.

"OK." Kurama drawled, drawing each letter to spite her other number and infuriate her even more. "I thought you were someone important what with all the pomp and splendour." She smirked inwardly when she saw a visible frown on the goddess' face. It was not everyday when you could just insult a spoilt goddess.

"I am also the Goddess of strength, bravery, trust and also the Queen of the Olympians. The reigning gods here." Now Kurama was impressed. Bitch sure did know the meaning of climbing the ladder. "Who are you, monster?"

Kurama crossed her hands. Even the gods themselves were mistaking her for a monster. When actually she was a demon. Just like Raiden and Fujin. But they became gods later on. Labels meant nothing in reality. Alas... People never learn. Will if she wanted to believe she was just a lowly monster out of the pits of hell then so be it. It was no skin of her back and it was always better this way. Easier to manipulate a Divine when she or he thought you were just a reformed monster.

"I know you came here through a portal. And that you bought two other with you. Now speak monster, or I will drive you back to the pits of Tartarus."

"Tartarus is not my abode." Kurama and was content to see the surprise on the other woman. "I am called the Nine-tailed demon fox. I have lost my way as I was thrown through the vortex along with a fellow traveller. The third was an adversary and we killed her." She supplied, changing the facts here and there a little to suit her needs. Which piqued the interest of the other as she realised her eyebrow and leaned as if to ask her a confidential question.

"And was this companion your husband?"

Kyuubi gritted her teeth. Of course, this woman was the fucking goddess of marriage. If anyone would know the real meaning of the Death reaper seal it would be Hera. Schooling her features into a look of shyness she forced our the required answer of her.

"Yes. Naruto is my husband who changed me so much that my and his kin exiled us."

"Where is he?"

"We got separated due to the vortex. And i can't find him now. I would be grateful if you could help me here. Help out a married woman and all."

The goddess materialised a table and some chairs in front of her and asked her to sit on it. The chair was comfy enough to not make the Demon Queen feel a loss of face. Only after sitting did she take a good look on her accoster. Plain round face, not even innocent like the Hyuga bitch. Plain straight black hair, not even lustrous or with seductive waves like that Yuhi bitch from Konoha had. Plain black eyes, not even shiny pits of onyx that some enviously had. Plain body with not much of a top nor a bottom. Like that pinkette of a bitch that she detested. Just the kind of a homely woman a simple man would want for a wife.

But when she opened her mouth, "Something tells me you're not telling me the whole truth." Kurama knew that there was a hidden blade of steel within this simple woman that made her far more rare than any woman.

"Why do you think so?"

Hera leaned in with a smirk, that awfully showed that she wasn't convinced even a tiny bit by her lies. It was written in the very curve of her lips. "First of all you haven't changed at all. You're still the bloodthirsty monster you were. Otherwise how did you fall in my subordinate's trap? Second, man is sincere. Not like us beings of immortal nature. If you had been separated and you were married and he loved you, he would have tried his best to find you." The smugness that she oozed practically made Kurama to gag. "I am the Goddess of marriage among other things."

Kurama snarled silently, angry that the goddess had found out her fibs. This woman was smart. Smart enough to outsmart the Demon of mischief and trickery. Or maybe she was just that strong in her domain.

Seeing no other way out, Kurama decided to come clean. Sometimes sacrifices are required. As the end always justifies the means. "I attacked his nation."

Hera tittered. But Kurama soldiered on, not minding the insulting guffaws.

"The Leader, his father couldn't contain me. So he devised a rune to bond me inside a human vessel, his son."

"And let me guess. The price for that was the human's marriage with you. As love and marriage is the strongest bond other than death. But live can't be created in an instant, but marriage can be." Hera whispered as if she was the only one with the secret to everlasting happiness. Not really, as she was the key to everlasting depression.

"Yes, bitch." Kurama ground out. "My marriage to the son in lieu of the father's life." She was annoyed that this total stranger had figured out the setup that not even millenia of study by the Uzumakis no less hadn't been able to decipher.

"And what made you stick by that decision?"

Kurama kissed her teeth as Hera had hit a particularly soft spot in her memories. Of her and her past. When she truly loved someone and that someone did all he could to seal her and her brethren away. She was a demon, no doubt about it. She had the youki to stake her claim on it. But she had a heart as well. And a heart, no matter its origins or type was needy. "I don't know you enough to give you that answer."

Hera schooled her features as the demon said her piece, the monster loved that human. Enough to feel defensive about it. It was a field day for her domain, so she let her question be unanswered. Instead she offered her a way out, "I'll help you but on one condition. If you fulfill that I'll help you in all respects. I can bless your marriage. I'll make your husband love you again. Or if he never did he will start to. You will have a good married life with all the perks a wife should have. Your man won't object to your shopping sprees. He will find whatever you cook to be paradise on earth. He will be wrapped around your little finger. And last but not the least, you will always win the disputes between man and wife."

"Name the price."

"I want you to kill someone. Or more like someones."

"Who?"

"Well, do we start with the easy ones or the hard ones?" Hera ground out, a temporary drop of her features and her anger simmered to the surface. Kyuubi realized that this was a scorned woman. A scorned woman with a kill list that she had to cross out. She wished it was long indeed. For she was bored.

"Hard. The easy ones would be just boring."

"First Artemis. My husband's bastard."

Oh this was a honor killing. Joy! She hated doing those. They were never worth the effort. But anything to get the reincarnation of her old lover back.

***Colossus***

Tony could feel it in his bones. He was nearing his quarry. Most of the demigods of Athena knew about the Greco-Roman divide. Due to Her being unable to bring about Roman demigods and also because she wanted to do justice to her Roman form.

According to Tony it was a waste of time. One of the reasons why he wasn't at good terms with his mother. He had refused the honor to bring back her godforsaken statue. He didn't see a point in it. And he was glad he did.

The sun was doing him wonders. He had lost a lot of belly weight. He could now even run a quarter mile without panting. Even bedded women half his age just by showing his private eye card.

He was the shit!

"Could you focus?" The Single most annoying female in his life, just after his wife growled out to him. Interrupting his much needed thinking time.

He made his dream come true. He was Tony Stuart. The Colonel who exited Vietnam with a survival rate of ninety percent amongst his troops. He was Tony Stuart, the private detective who had never had a single unsolved case against him. He was Tony Stuart who was even consulted by Senators and Governors for his extreme knowledge of human semantics and behavioural patterns and of course his uncommon level of proficiency in common sense.

"Hmmm. OK, Clarisse." He tried to annoy the bitch "Right after you tell me why should I?"

"Coz this is what my father ordered me to do."

"And this affects me?" Tony just blew her off. Little butch was still an amateur. It would take her centuries to match the great Tony Stuart. "Listen, little girl. Your father asked me for help and you're just an add on. If you want this to be done, you will have to play by my rules. Am I understood?"

Clarisse grudgingly had to accept. "Yes."

They were currently in a cafe where Tony had stopped to feed his gargantuan appetite. A recent convert from tobacco, he had only food to help fill the gap left behind. Moreover, he liked fine food. As his Major General Blucher always said. Three things you never compromise in life.

Fine food, fine clothes and fine women.

And he had stuck to that maxim to this date.

"Why are we here again?" Clarisse again complained. She was pissed off at the lazy attitude of this bastard who thought he was superior to her.

"The things missing on old Richie were his documents. Seems like this was the work of an immigrant who needed false papers. And as his papers were issued in Utah, our dear quarry will stay in Utah."

"So why are in a bar?"

Tony had an intense urge to smack his head out of frustration. How could she not get this? It was literally staring right back at her face.

"Little girl, what is Utah famous for?"

"Tourism." Clarisse ventured. She had seen those car license plates with the caption 'Life elevated' , 'Greatest Snow on Earth' and those other ones with the Delicate Arch. Utah's ski resorts, canyons, deserts and national parks attracted a lot of people. It was all due to its unique geography.

Utah got its name from the Ute tribes that inhabited the area since millenia. Probably ever since humans first arrived in the Americas. It lay at the confluence of three distinct geographical entities - The Rocky mountains, the Great Basin and the Colorado Plateau.

Even the Bonneville salt flats were here. The origin of the name for Triumph's Bonneville cruisers. Perfectly flat as it used to the bed for the ancient Bonneville Lake. And add to it the Rocky mountains range whose dry powdered snow is perfect for skiing.

"Right. And all we have to see is who has opened a new skiing resort. Our target's action leads me to think he is planning for something big. And that is the only big thing that comes to my mind in this place."

The perfect Snow. Utah.

"What would you like to have to drink?" The bartender asked acting as inky bartenders can as if they weren't privy to any conversation that just happened.

"One peg of Gentleman Jack for me. Add Sprite to it not water. And a lemonade for the young lady." Tony said quickly changing the topic. Seeing that he had made all the required setup, Tony leaned over the tabletop. Scratching on the wooden laminate so that the sound made sure to keep the bartender's attention, he asked the million dollar question.

"Any new ski resorts that I can hit up here?"

"The Ice Leaf. Said to be operated by some real estate firm. McCloud, Mercer and Thauvin or something. My patrons only say good things about the place. Mr McCloud is also quite a hit among the young ladies."

Now Tony was interested. "Why!" Complete with mock exclamation he asked further, "Is McCloud the Ryan Gosling of Utah?"

The bartender just shrugged. The skin cortorting his perfectly round bald head. It was a masterpiece in the history of bald heads in the history of the world. Perfect skin draped over a bony head. No stretched skin, no mottled flesh. Just perfect taut skin.

"I oil it with coconut oil everyday." the Bartender informed noticing the gaze of his patron. "And to answer your question he is. That is what my daughter says. As a father I would be extremely glad that you could prove that he is your quarry." The bartender rasped with exactly as much emotion as a dead chicken.

Tony racked his brains. Old Richie was never a hit among the ladies. A very gruff personality, distrust towards authority figures, remorseless attitude coupled with a face that had been pounder with a roadroller made him jailbait and chickbait.

"Can I get a picture of this McCloud?"

"sure."

Without notice, a photo of the McCloud guy was produced on the table. A blonde man with blue eyes of the purest azure. If he didn't know better, he would have said he was an Australian beach boy. Then he noticed a glaring aspect of the person that niggled his detective bone. His eyes were a bit slanted. Like nothing that a pure occidental origin man should have.

He was undoubtedly not born to American parents.

Looks like he got his target.

***Colossus***

"Why are you fretting over this? I told you I have accepted my fate?" The pinkette rasped in a gurgle, the sickly bile limiting her speech. "I am nothing without Chakra. You on the other hand.."

"Shut your trap." Naruto snapped at her outrageous reply. "You may be content to die out in a foreign land. But not me."

Sakura Haruno painfully tilted her head and gazed at her teammate from her death bed. They had grown up together. She was the shy little girl insecure about her forehead and hair. He was the dumbass only particular about rules if he had made it himself. Then she was the honor student while he was the bottomscraper. Then all of the sudden she was the team support and he was the combat specialist. Then she was a medic under the Head medic while he was the chief weapon of the said Head medic who also happened to be their leader.

They had changed a lot but one thing remained the same. She was a quitter he was a fighter. Even when he had no money and lived on state charity he aimed big. Now bug people were aiming at him.

"You are the fighter here. I am just a lowly medic. My absence won't be felt much as yours."

Naruto softened when he heard those words. She was accepting defeat. He kneeled down next to her. "You kick ass too Sakura. I just don't want to lose you as well."

"Don't lose yourself first, Naru." She nudged him gently with her fingers on the head. He might not have noticed it but the had grown a lot more aggressive coming here. He was a killer, always had been. But here he was a sociopath. "And think on why you alone of your group have not been feeling any adverse effects here."

Naruto frowned. Not liking this angle of thought. It made things to crop up which he didn't like to at all. Like his relationship with the demon of his life.

"I don't wanna think about it. My mother's genes seems to be helping me here as well. At the least she is being of some use to me in a way."

Sakura closed his deceiving lips with her trembling fingers. Even as a child he had remarkable conversational skills. He could even make the enemy to feel remorse and change sides after the attack. Well he did do it. A couple of times too much.

"The Kyuubi loves you."

"She doesn't have anything to do with this!"

"How else can you explain it away? There is a limit to the Uzumaki vitality mumbo-jumbo. If that was the reason, your blood should have kept me healthy."

That stopped his slowly rising ire. She was kind of right in a way. The Kyuubi was a demon through and through. She had stopped whispering in his ear orders for genocides only when she realized he wasn't listening.

"She doesn't love me or anything. It's the desire for a prey that has escaped your clutches. The forbidden fruit."

Sakura cozied up into her bed intent in relaxing before she eventually died. But first she wanted some answers. "When did you decide Sasuke wasn't worth saving?"

"When he tried to kill you and defect from the village." Sakura nodded at his answer. She thought so too. He was always protective. Of his friends and well-wishers. Guardian to his allies and death to his enemies. There was no middle ground for Naruto.

Their sensei had tried to inculcate a rivalry between him and Sasuke. Naruto didn't pay it much attention but it had festered in Sasuke the decaying sense of revenge. Until he became a raving lunatic. And then he killed him. Sasuke tried to defect and Naruto killed him at the Valley of the End. Like how their respective ancestors had almost a century ago.

"A traitor's reward is death. No matter if he is the last of the Uchiha or the son of the Hokage. It doesn't matter. Treachery should be paid with death and only death." The Namikaze continued. It was a surprise to her when Tsunade had declared him a Namikaze, son of the Fourth Hokage after the fallout from Sasuke's death. The council needed a scapegoat. And Tsunade was adamant that it would be Naruto only over her cold dead body.

'Naruto Namikaze. For that is your name now onwards. A man needs his father's name as his last name to show that he is ready to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders." The blonde Senju had said. There was a silent din in the council. The kind when you knew the pindrop silence was gonna be shattered any moment.

'Then let mine be Umino.' Naruto replied. Uncaring of the inheritance, he only repaid the one person who was like a real father to him. Tsunade flat out refused to concede and Naruto flat out refused to acknowledge. The blondes were more stubborn than a family of donkeys combined.

"What are you thinking?" Naruto gently prodded her, feeling that she had drifted off into her own lala world.

"Of home."

Sakura winced. She had decided on not telling her hunches to deaf ears. Instead, she will just talk about her feeling to the deaf ear.

"Come into bed. There is enough place here for two." She gestured for him to join her.

The blonde Namikaze slipped into the bed and immediately regretted. She was reeking of death.

"There is not enough place for me here, in this world." Naruto grouched, "This world hates me."

"Stop being melodramatic." Sakura snapped.

Naruto frowned.

And Sakura laughed.

***Colossus***

"We have been over this!" Kushina shouted at her boyfriend. "I don't know why or how I was saved. All I remember is that your Hokage saved my arse when I was six and brought me here."

Minato tried to calm his obviously hyper-ventilating wife. All he wanted to know was why she had no family. Even the refugees from Ame had relatives. And there was a god damn massacre in there conducted by both Iwa and Kumo. And if no relatives, at the least records, memories something. Somebody somewhere would at the very least have heard about Kushina's parents among the whirlpool refugee.

And so the blonde wonder tried to reassure his girlfriend and soon to be wife, "All I want is the best for you, Kushi-chan. If there is a family of you out there. I want my son to meet them. I will not have my son grow without knowing about his clan."

Kushina took a deep breath, to calm herself down. And to prepare for the truth, "I have told you time and again. My father was Arashi "Fine hair" Uzumaki. Mother was Kiyomi housewife. Both died in the rebellion. My paternal Uncle Ninigo was killed by Iwa. He was unmarried. Maternal aunt and kids killed by the rebels. That's all there was."

Minato blinked,"What about her husband?" By process of elimination he was still alive.

"He was the one who killed us." Kushina barked, tears falling from her eyes. Dabbing at her now soaked eyes she mumbled to her love, "I need some space." then she ran to the bathroom.

"Hey, I am sorry." Minato tried to apologize. "Kushi-chan please forgive me. I didn't want to..."

She shut off the door to the bathroom and to the sounds outside. This was her alone time. Here she could be herself.

The tiles were in purple and red. His choice. He said it suited her. Fine by her. She was never a forceful person. Nah...

She had always fought for approval from undeserving fellows and looked for appreciation in places she shouldn't.

Why else should she be here. In this foreign land. Far away from home. Far away from loved ones.

The last was a bit of stretch as after all there was one person who mag care about her even in the slightest manner. And that person had never seen her face.

This place. Konoha was good for her and her personality demons.

Coming back to why she had ran to the bathroom. Here she could collect her thoughts for one inevitable time that a person must go through at the least once in his or her lifetime. More so for a woman like her, who had Hud such a life-changing secret from her husband.

Husband. She will make Minato her husband. Come help our high water.

So this was it. That dreaded time.

It was Confession time.

"Honey I am really sorry okay. I know I shouldn't push you on this, but it means a lot to me. I was an orphan you see. So, I don't want my son to ever think or feel like me. Alone." Minato spoke with conviction as he breathed his feelings through the door. His feelings for Kushina were genuine and he knew it.

A ninja wasn't supposed to feel any emotions. A sharp tool to be used. But underneath all those jutsus, seals, runes, illusions Minato Namikaze was just a man.

"Babe you still there?" He questioned her, hoping without hope that she hadn't taken any drastic measures. Kushina had always been a bit erratic and unstable. Those were the things Minato liked in her in the first place. But he liked a lot of things which were unhealthy.

He liked to wear his ties too tight. He smoked on an empty stomach most of the times. He was blind to mortal dangers. Unscared of safety restraints or limits.

Or of beautiful men.

"Listen Minato, I need to confess something. That's why I cane here." Her voice jolted him from temporary shutdown.

"Confess?" He questioned a little fearful. He didn't know how he could take betrayal or cheating. Yet.

"Yes."

"What?"

"I am pregnant." Kushina blurted out. She couldn't wait any longer. Fuck the arrangement. Fuck the deal. This was her life. Nobody and nobody's river gets to control how she lives out her life.

Kushina gasped as Minato broke down the door and was inside. She gasped again, as she was picked up into his arms. She could see the love in his eyes. And she never regretted trading her shitty home for Konoha.

This was all she needed.

"Kushina Uzumaki." Minato said to her all solemn. She just wanted to giggle. Sombreity didn't suit his face. But she was dissuaded from doing so, with a nasty finger of her blonde wonder. "You just made me the happiest man."

"Shut up idiot." Kushina said with an atomic blush lighting up her face. "I am not asking you to marry me. But promise me one thing, will you?"

Minato nodded his head, intent on proving her first claim wrong just about tomorrow, same time. A seal from the top of the Hokage tower to broadcast 'Will you marry me?' should do the trick. Prior to it, he would have called her to training ground seven which had quite a good view of the said Mountain on a impromptu training request.

The Namikaze patted himself in the back for thinking of such a great idea. Ero-sensei would be proud of his student.

"I just want my son to visit his homeland once."

Minato frowned at the request of his love. "You refuse to meet you lr family, but you want him to visit his homeland?"

"I am sure there will be someone left there."

"Then let's go now." He offered. It made little sense to him as to why she was so scared of her own family. Unless the civil war had left huge wounds.

Kushina smiled, "I'll tell you one day."

"When?"

"At the time of my death."

"I wouldn't want to live without you, Kushina." the future Hokage said with almost certainty.

"I know. That's why I am making you promise for our child."

Minato frowned again. She was too smart for her own good. But whatever she wanted.

She was his red-headed goddess.

Chapter End

No witty comebacks or goodbyes this time. Just tired from my fucking job. A miracle that I could even complete this chapter.

Forgive any typos, didn't have time to proofread.

Talk soon,

Mushy

Frustrated Asst. Manager


End file.
